One year before the presidential election recount fiasco unsettled Thanksgiving celebrations across South Florida, the Sunshine State produced another holiday drama that captivated the nation and played a role in determining the outcome of the 2000 election.

A decade ago, on November 25, 1999, five-year-old Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., after he and his mother attempted to travel by raft from Cuba to the United States. After settling in with relatives in Miami, Gonzalez became the target of a long and bitter custody dispute that ended in June when he was returned to his father in Cuba.

In the intervening months, the legal tug-of-war over Gonzalez produced an endless cable television drama that culminated with an unforgettable photo that splashed across television screens and front pages: A gun-toting federal agent taking a terrified young boy into custody during an April raid on his relatives’ home.

The incident, which pitted the sympathies of Florida’s Cuban immigrant community against the Clinton Justice Department, may have produced just enough bad blood in Florida to influence the outcome of the 2000 presidential election—a contest ultimately determined by less than 600 votes in Florida.

The Thanksgiving Day Massacre

Republicans across the country had much to be grateful for on Thanksgiving Day in 1994, just weeks after the GOP made history by capturing the House and the Senate.

In New York state, Republicans had even won the governor’s office for the first time in two decades, defeating the liberal hero Gov. Mario Cuomo in the process.

But for Ralph Marino, the GOP leader in the New York state Senate, Thanksgiving wasn’t much of a holiday that year, as allies of Gov.-elect George Pataki used the occasion to oust him from his leadership post and replace him with state Sen. Joe Bruno—an episode that came to be known as the Thanksgiving Day Massacre.

Bruno explained the Turkey Day coup in euphemistic terms, telling the New York Times: “It was apparent that there was not open communication taking place between the Senate leadership and the Governor-elect.”

Swapping out a downstate leader wary of Pataki for a brash, heavy-handed operator from upstate Rensselaer County, Republicans changed the shape of state politics for the duration of Pataki’s term and beyond. Bruno held the top Republican job in the state legislature until 2008, when he resigned and was subsequently indicted on multiple counts of corruption.

Perhaps Obama will surprise us all and visit the troops in Afghanistan tomorrow. That would be fitting considering the speech he'll be making in front of West Point cadets next week. But something tells me pigs will be completing their fitting for wings before that happens.

Bush's last budget year began Oct 1 2008 and ended 2 months ago. Little of that deficit was from Obama's spending. The next one will be Obama's but not the last. Sorry.

Thank you for the correction. My point is that Obama is going way over what the American tax payer is going to be able to handle. He appears to not care about spending. And, that is pretty scary given the shape of our curent deficit.

Wow.... Until you pointed this out, I thought the Army had fed the vast multitudes of troops present that day with that one 15lbs. bird. Boy cleared that up for all of us, I'm sure. Photo op or not the troops loved him for it.

The word "thanksgiving" means far more than just sitting down to to eat a turkey dinner. Thanksgiving is a powerful spiritual principle. In the Book of Psalms it is written: "Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving." When we give thanks to God, we are both honoring and worshiping Him as God. God delights in our thanksgiving in the same way an earthly father is pleased to hear his own children's expressions of gratitude for his goodness to them. The word todah means "thanks," "adoration." or "praise", and is derived from the verb yadah, "to give thanks", "to praise." The root of yadah is yad, "hand." Thus, to thank or praise God is "to lift or extend one's hands" in thanks to Him. The lifting up or raising of hands is a biblical gesture of thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Brothers & Sisters out there. Like it or not, we are all in this together.

Thank you for the correction. My point is that Obama is going way over what the American tax payer is going to be able to handle. He appears to not care about spending. And, that is pretty scary given the shape of our curent deficit.

Thanks for that acknowledgement, all too rare. Our economy teetered on the edge of disaster last winter, businesses stopped spending and consumers stopped spending. Our economy can't survive with no one spending so Gov't had to step in. You can argue about what was proposed to spend it on or the speed but, as painful as this is, there had to be massive spending

Thank you for the correction. My point is that Obama is going way over what the American tax payer is going to be able to handle. He appears to not care about spending. And, that is pretty scary given the shape of our curent deficit.

After about a year into his addiction he seems to be coming to the conclusion he should do something about jobs, I even heard Piglosi say something about that being important now. Isnt that wonderful, they though about the little guys just before Thanksgiving. Wondering how long that will last? Probly right up until the senate votes on the health control bill then it will be something else until they vote on crap and tax.

Bush's last budget year began Oct 1 2008 and ended 2 months ago. Little of that deficit was from Obama's spending.

....even if much of it was born of his policies. Budget + additional appropriations - revenue = deficit. And Obama is just getting warmed up. Based on the historical recession data, we should have been gaining jobs this summer. And what kind of revenue is lost when a plan implemented to keep unemployment around 8% jumps to 10.2%? Let's not forget Obama's spending, like cash for clunkers, a portion of the Omnibus bill, half of Tarp, the GM and Chrysler bailout, a portion of the stimu-less plan, all while he knew the deficit was so high.....And of course Obama voted for the 2009 budget, which was passed by the house and senate, after of course pork was added..... or should I say turkey, given the day. Heck, throw in a pie too, and Happy Tanksgiving.

In 2003, the president raised the bar with a surprise trip to Baghdad, where he helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to U.S. troops eight months after the invasion of Iraq.

Yes I remember this well. At the time I was leading Soldiers in Iraq when our Commander in Chief landed in Baghdad in the middle of the night came out with a fake turkey for a 14.5 second photo op then flew away. What a great leader.